What Is Your Biggest Regret or Worst Mistake in Collecting? 1 1

[WoWitHurts]

I regret selling a couple of books that if they ever come back up for sell I will buy them back. When I was 12 I could have bought AF 15 for $50 but chose to buy ASM run books instead. I don’t regret it really as I only had $63 from paper route and my mom drove me 60 miles to the little con. I didn’t know ho ;one it would be before I got to another con.

 

[solm4st3r]

3 hours ago, Kripsys99 said:

Mine is card related, instead of comic related. In 2014, just before my daughter was born, I sold most of my collection of graded NHL Rookie Cards from the 70s and 80s. I just didn't feel right hanging onto them heading into a year of the wife being on mat leave, followed by years of daycare fees, not to mention saving for the kid's university fund. I had everyone who was anyone in my collection, including three Wayne Gretzky rookies graded 8.5 by BGS and SGC. I sold all the cards for FMV, which at the time meant I got about $2500 a pop for the Gretzky rookies. Hard to let them go, but I figured I'd buy one again some day. Well, one of my former Gretzky rookies recently sold for over $75k - the others were in at least as good condition. Not only did I miss out on the value of the cards, I doubt I'll ever own a Gretzky rookie in similar condition ever again.

$75K for one card!

[silverseeker]

This one's easy for me with what's currently going on in the market...not picking up a copy of X-Men #1 in 6.0ish between 2000 (when I got back into collecting) and 2019, when Marvel acquired Fox...I had so many years... 

[Qalyar]

3 hours ago, Kripsys99 said:

Mine is card related, instead of comic related. In 2014, just before my daughter was born, I sold most of my collection of graded NHL Rookie Cards from the 70s and 80s. I just didn't feel right hanging onto them heading into a year of the wife being on mat leave, followed by years of daycare fees, not to mention saving for the kid's university fund. I had everyone who was anyone in my collection, including three Wayne Gretzky rookies graded 8.5 by BGS and SGC. I sold all the cards for FMV, which at the time meant I got about $2500 a pop for the Gretzky rookies. Hard to let them go, but I figured I'd buy one again some day. Well, one of my former Gretzky rookies recently sold for over $75k - the others were in at least as good condition. Not only did I miss out on the value of the cards, I doubt I'll ever own a Gretzky rookie in similar condition ever again.

Speaking of cards, and given the card folks we share the forum with these days, when I sold out of Magic: the Gathering, I got the then-criminally outrageous price of $25 each for my Unlimited/Revised dual lands, and $40 each for my Beta duals -- I was mostly a control blue player, so I only had the blue-producing duals in Beta. For the non-Magic folks here, that means I got $40 apiece for four Tropical Island ($3500ish each now), four Tundra (solid $3000 each), four Underground Seas ($5000+ each), four Volcanic Island (probably closer to $6500 each).

Counting everything, I got something around $3000 cash money when I sold off. Conservatively, that collection would sell today for more like a quarter million bucks.

Oops.

[rjpb]

12 minutes ago, silverseeker said:

This one's easy for me with what's currently going on in the market...not picking up a copy of X-Men #1 in 6.0ish between 2000 (when I got back into collecting) and 2019, when Marvel acquired Fox...I had so many years... 

Heck, you could regret just the not buying in December, and flipping for double by March.

[alexgross.com]

selling any key, ever, unless i put that $ into another key immediately. 

[Kripsys99]

 

1 hour ago, solm4st3r said:

$75K for one card!

Crazy, eh? My completely unsolicited advice based on my experience in the card market (which seems to be a little ahead of the comic market in terms of crazy increases in valuations) - I would hold any keys with relatively low-populations which you might have - even given the current craziness. I believe there is a new breed of collector out there - with little interest-in/regard-for the collectibles themselves, looking for low-population books, flush with cash, buying high-grade, holding long, never selling/trading/upgrading. I don’t think they can necessarily be called speculative, because they’re not in it for a quick buck - they’re willing to buy, then HOLD - either for the status of owning the collectible, as a long-term hedge against inflation, or likely both (the 21-year-old kid who bought two of my Gretzky Rookies threw them in a shoe box with about a dozen others which he told me he had not intention of selling anytime soon). For a long while, there simply weren’t any Gretzky rookies trading hands. The aforementioned new breed of collector gobbled up any which were available, and that (along with the eventual COVID craziness) drove the prices up to the insane levels we see now. And in actuality, the levels may not be that insane - a Gretzky rookie is a (if not the) definitive hockey-card grail, and there aren’t a ton out there, let alone a ton of high-grade specimens (and there aren’t likely to be many more high-grade copies unearthed, given that it’s a 40 year-old card). And you can bet that anyone who pays $75k for a Gretzky Rookie now won’t be letting it go for much less anytime soon, so I doubt the market will collapse all that much, even if the economy tanks again at some point. That’s why I don’t quite understand some of the “keys” which are going for crazy valuations currently - the pop reports for these books are simply too large, and there are too many out there to keep the books from trading hands on a semi-regular basis - I don’t think the values can be sustained. Meanwhile, some definitive keys (particularly DC keys) with relatively low populations (particularly in high grade) are still trading hands at reasonable prices - I used Superman 233 (which I obviously have a fondness for) as an example in another thread of a book with a strong pedigree (most recognizable superhero on the planet, ultra-famous Neal Adams cover - even for non-collectors, definitive Superman BA book even without the cover) and a relatively low population (despite being a 50-year-old definitive key, there are only 900 in the registry, 150 above 9.0, and 3 at 9.8) that seems to be going for pennies on the dollar compared to what it should cost relative to some of the more dubious (and more widely available) Marvel “keys” (even factoring in Marvel’s higher popularity). Mark my words, given the low number of some of these comics available in high-grade condition, the prices for these books will sky-rocket once these new collectors get their hands on them, and refuse to move them over the long-term. I think they’ll eventually become almost as unattainable as my treasured rookie cards.  I, for one, have learned my lesson - I’m holding onto my Superman 233, and never letting go!

[Hollywood1892]

Not immediately listening to long term boardies on good ways to collect. My first year I bought a lot of books that I'm stuck with! I realize you can buy what you like and still invest while making profit

[solm4st3r]

13 minutes ago, Kripsys99 said:

 

Crazy, eh? My completely unsolicited advice based on my experience in the card market (which seems to be a little ahead of the comic market in terms of crazy increases in valuations) - I would hold any keys with relatively low-populations which you might have - even given the current craziness. I believe there is a new breed of collector out there - with little interest-in/regard-for the collectibles themselves, looking for low-population books, flush with cash, buying high-grade, holding long, never selling/trading/upgrading. I don’t think they can necessarily be called speculative, because they’re not in it for a quick buck - they’re willing to buy, then HOLD - either for the status of owning the collectible, as a long-term hedge against inflation, or likely both (the 21-year-old kid who bought two of my Gretzky Rookies threw them in a shoe box with about a dozen others which he told me he had not intention of selling anytime soon). For a long while, there simply weren’t any Gretzky rookies trading hands. The aforementioned new breed of collector gobbled up any which were available, and that (along with the eventual COVID craziness) drove the prices up to the insane levels we see now. And in actuality, the levels may not be that insane - a Gretzky rookie is a (if not the) definitive hockey-card grail, and there aren’t a ton out there, let alone a ton of high-grade specimens (and there aren’t likely to be many more high-grade copies unearthed, given that it’s a 40 year-old card). And you can bet that anyone who pays $75k for a Gretzky Rookie now won’t be letting it go for much less anytime soon, so I doubt the market will collapse all that much, even if the economy tanks again at some point. That’s why I don’t quite understand some of the “keys” which are going for crazy valuations currently - the pop reports for these books are simply too large, and there are too many out there to keep the books from trading hands on a semi-regular basis - I don’t think the values can be sustained. Meanwhile, some definitive keys (particularly DC keys) with relatively low populations (particularly in high grade) are still trading hands at reasonable prices - I used Superman 233 (which I obviously have a fondness for) as an example in another thread of a book with a strong pedigree (most recognizable superhero on the planet, ultra-famous Neal Adams cover - even for non-collectors, definitive Superman BA book even without the cover) and a relatively low population (despite being a 50-year-old definitive key, there are only 900 in the registry, 150 above 9.0, and 3 at 9.8) that seems to be going for pennies on the dollar compared to what it should cost relative to some of the more dubious (and more widely available) Marvel “keys” (even factoring in Marvel’s higher popularity). Mark my words, given the low number of some of these comics available in high-grade condition, the prices for these books will sky-rocket once these new collectors get their hands on them, and refuse to move them over the long-term. I think they’ll eventually become almost as unattainable as my treasured rookie cards.  I, for one, have learned my lesson - I’m holding onto my Superman 233, and never letting go!

I've been buying up DC Keys as well. Recently picked up HG CGC slabs of Jimmy Olsen 134, New Teen Titans 2, and Aquaman 35 at good prices. Hopefully you are right and those books take off too.

[Kripsys99]

20 minutes ago, solm4st3r said:

Jimmy Olsen 134

Yeah, this is another book I’d love to add to my collection - nice pick-up!

[MatterEaterLad]

As a 5th grader, passing up a Marvel Mystery Comics #44 for $20 and instead buying five ordinary issues of Strange Tales. I was a kid and 5 comics were better than 1 for the money.

As a grown-up, selling four Miller DDs in 9.9, waaaay too soon. 

But I think my good moves have overshadowed my bad ones. Got a great deal on a Hulk 1 years ago, recently bought a 1,000+ book SA collection fairly cheap, etc.

[the blob]

Selling nearly any SA or BA key I have ever sold with very few exceptions.

[universal soldier]

Being too hesitant to pull the trigger when opportunities come up. I had to step away from buying back issues from 2015 - 2019 due to other priorities (kids in college ) and now the market is just making me 

That and selling a higher grade X-men 94 for a bag of weed when I was a teenager. 

[Buzzetta]

Honestly?

Sometimes I honesty regret getting involved with it to begin with. 

[Jeffro.]

3 hours ago, MatterEaterLad said:

As a 5th grader, passing up a Marvel Mystery Comics #44 for $20 and instead buying five ordinary issues of Strange Tales. I was a kid and 5 comics were better than 1 for the money.

That's how I collected early on. I'd go to a show and if I didn't walk out with a big stack of books, I'd think it was a failure. If I had it to do over, I would have gone for keys instead of bulk. However, that's hindsight talking and in those days, amassing comics was what I was interested in doing so when examined that way it's hard to have regrets. c'est la vie

 

[ThreeSeas]

My biggest regret, which I am not sure qualifies as such, since I was only 8, was letting mom sell all of our comics at a garage sale back in 1971. Ten cents each. Wasn't much of a collection, just a whole lot of Marvel comics published between 1961 and 1970. I honestly don't remember them, but my older brother (who now doesn't collect) tells me what he remembers and it makes me cringe. Yep, there were some that would be worth a bit today.

My second regret is not buying more comics at the used bookstore that my mother used to take me to. ....Early 1970's, a 4 x 8 ft table piled deep in golden and silver age comics, a dime each. Yep, I wish I had sense enough to buy the Superheroes instead of Casper, Richie Rich, and so forth.

My third regret is not going to more farm auctions with my parents. Back in the early 80's they brought me home, if I remember correctly, over 400 Archie comics from the late 40's - 50's, plus some Pogo the Possum and other minor DC's I think. I've got notes of what was in that collection and I think my parents maybe paid $50 or something close to that. I just wish I had scouted out more of those auctions.

But I don't regret never having ever sold a comic.

[D84]

Getting married. 

[Black_Adam]

[Drummy]

For me the biggest mistake/regret has been my collecting focus.  I've been collecting either CGC graded books/keys and/or Marvel Bronze Age OA since 2000 or so.  I first went all in on the keys (and an FF run in high grade), then in 2008 I sold almost everything to buy OA.  Then I sold the OA to get back into the keys around 2015 -- all before the big price run-ups.

Now I'm still doing a little of both but with an iron-clad focus: 22 Marvel keys and a few Marvel covers when and if I can afford them when they come around.  I still need eight more of the former and (pick number here) of the latter, but overall I know what I'm looking for and not chasing any bauble that catches my eye.  If it's not on the list, it's not in my fist.  (Not sure that sounded right.)

Dan

[MB1952]

Biggest regret selling on my cgc keys and losing on auction some OA pieces that should have been mine. So many Grails now. 😢😢😢😂😂😂